The research, co-led by first author Mandi Schook, associate research curator at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, appears in the June-July issue of the journal General and Comparative Endocrinology. If we can help the ones we are caring for in zoos, that could make the difference for the species,” she said. “Given their plight on the planet, we need to do something for each and every one of them. Animals in the wild are threatened by poaching for their horns, and the roughly 250 captive black rhinos are at risk for a range of diseases. Worldwide, only about 5,000 black rhinos remain – a drop from an estimated 100,000 in the 1960s. “This is entering the vocabulary in zoo medicine, that obesity is much more than just a weight issue.”ĭennis, also a veterinary epidemiologist at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, said a change in zoo diet management is the most feasible first step toward improving captive black rhinos’ health. “We now recognize that obesity in humans leads to increased inflammation and a whole cascade of problems ranging from heart disease to immune dysfunction,” Dennis said. Just as research in humans continues to shed new light on the metabolic complexities of obesity, she said veterinary research is “just scratching the surface” of the same kind of thinking about animal health. To be clear, this study does not suggest that zoos cause health problems in black rhinos, said Pam Dennis, clinical assistant professor of veterinary preventive medicine at The Ohio State University and senior author of the study. In humans, these same conditions can both result from a rich diet and sedentary lifestyle and contribute to obesity and other diseases. The finding suggests captive black rhinos have metabolic problems. ![]() COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study shows that captive black rhinos – but not their wild counterparts – are at high risk for two common health problems suffered by millions of humans: inflammation and insulin resistance.
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